Janet of All Trades

On my recent out of town trip, I came across these selling at the tennis tournament for $15-$20 each. They are called Sweaty Bands and you can purchase them  here . Beautiful ribbons and a multitude of designs they called to me. So being the one who thinks she can make everything, I slinked over to the booth to take a look and see exactly what they were made of. I was surprised to see that they they would be pretty easy to duplicate and that is what I did yesterday morning before I left for work. Here is what I started with: I didn't have any nice ribbon so I used a cute Fat quarter fabric, a length of velvet ribbon and a spool of elastic. Now I searched and searched my craft stash for wider elastic but could not find any except a coil of small elastic cord. I would have had to run to buy some, but it was 7 am and not many stores are open, so I used what I had. Next time I will make it with ribbon and the correct elastic (I will post photos of those later). Now on to the Tutorial...

I decided to try another project with Mod Podge and it turned out great. I started with this miss mash of items. It consisted of Mod Podge, some fake gold coin pendants that I had, pendant bails, fabric and typewriter key inserts. First I cut two small squares of the fabric and coated one side of each coin with Mod Podge. Next I flipped them over and coated the right side with about 4 coats of Mod Podge, waiting about 15-20 minutes in between. Once it was dry I took small scissors and cut around the coin. This was easy since the fabric was stiff and you can butt the scissors right up to the coin. Here are the two coins finished and ready for a pendant bail. The coins already had a hole at the top so I just took the scissors and poked a hole and pushed the bail thru. The bail I used was a self closing and I only needed to bend it slightly to get it thru the hole and bend it back to snap it closed. The last step was to apply the typewriter key insert. I just took a little more Mod Pod...

I have been a huge tennis fan for years and have played almost all my life. We have be attending the Western & Southern Financial Tennis Tournament (part of the US Open series) for two years now. It is wonderful experience not only for the Tennis, but the people and the facility it is held in. I can't say enough about the tournament other than each year I am impressed with the way it is run and the high quality of tennis.  We saw so many players.... Justin Gimelstob - now a commentator John Isner - Wimbledon fame and a great player for his size! (6' 9") Andy Roddick, My favorite,practicing. My not so favorite, Maria Sharpova looking straight head and not acknowledging fans. Another Favorite,Kim Clijsters, winner of the Tournament,on her way to be interviewed. It was an amazing weekend, (with a side trip to Ikea), in the heat and humidity and two rain delays and then walking back to the car in mud. But what is a trip without some unexpected fun. I am glad to be b...

Every Friday I get exited about the weekend and projects that I may or may not complete. I have so many that I have not completed that I am starting to feel ashamed that I even tease you with the ideas. I will vow to review his blog and write down all the things I haven't finished and give you all a update over the next few weeks. But for now, here are two more items that have been added to the list. From my Estate Sale find of the typewriter inserts and some other items that I had laying around. Looks like a miss mash of items, but trust me there is an awesome idea in the making from these items. I swear it will be great.  Next is the item from my recent Ikea trip. I think it called an Ikea Hack, which I never knew that there was a term for it, but I've got a great idea for these. It will be fabulous and it will be something that I totally need for some organization. That is it for now as I am off for some more fun today that I will blog about next week. Enjoy and have a gre...

I am on a much needed shopping trip to here today. Picking up some much needed items to complete a few rooms. Some lighting, shelves and small furniture  that will solve a few decorating and much needed storage issues. I also bought some items that I tend to change in appearance but not in function that I will blog about soon. It was a great trip and expect to mull over this catalog for months now and see if I can find more things that I REALLY need. 

I love paint and I love color, so when I saw this rather large paint chip in the recent Martha Stewart Living, It made the paint bug in me get excited. Glidden calls this the Top 10 Feels Like Home Colors. Really a nice slick way to show off color and how it can be used in different rooms. I like all the colors except a few that seem, well to pastel and a bit dated. Maybe it is just me since I like a good saturated color and not one that clings to edge of being bold. I won't tell the colors I don't like (and no it's is not the white, it is quite nice and warm) but I will tell the colors that I do like. Safari Green, now the more I look at this I know why like it. It is a similar color of my bathroom which is Chardonnay bottle. I think that explains why I like the color. Although Glidden shows the color with other interesting colors as accents. With Lilac and Mulberry colors, it really makes a bold statement and I would have never put those colors together.I will have to ...

I have been making things for as long as I can remember. Over the years I have made everything from Birthday cards to costumes to Christmas trees. Yes, I made my own Christmas tree at the age of 9, I cut pine tree bows and fashioned a Christmas tree from a coffee can,sticks and twine. I just wanted a tree of my own in my bedroom so I made one. The things that I have made have either been for me or most of the time as gifts. I have never ventured into selling anything I have made since I have little confidence it what I make it actually sellable. Plus I am not that good at blowing my own horn, so this is quite painful. So here I go trying this shameless plug of my Etsy shop   It's just a few things that I have made and some that have been featured on this Blog. Mini Totes: Wallets Felt Zinnia Pillow Pin Cushions Okay the shameless plug is over and I can go back to making things again. Enjoy and maybe stop by my shop